


Approval

by Camellianswer



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen, Hacking, Maverick Hunters, Mission Reports, illegal defense measures, malware, mavericks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 17:56:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18744148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camellianswer/pseuds/Camellianswer
Summary: Never when he aced the simulations. Never when he displayed his skill in physical combat. Never when he executed a daring move that would have made Red applaud. X never acknowledged any of these.But this…for the first time, Axl saw approval in X’s eyes.It confused him.It delighted him.





	Approval

 

 

 

Even though he never looked X’s way when training anymore, it would be a lie to declare that he no longer cared what X thought of him. That he no longer desired to have X as his hero.

He still wanted X to approve of him. To trust him. But a lot of time had passed, and he’d learned first how to pretend not to care, and then how to stop caring so much. Axl still cared, but it was a manageable amount that he could shove down under a sigh and a smile with little effort.

Axl blew the simulated target away and grinned, if just for a moment feeling proud of himself even if nobody else was.

 

* * *

 

 

There had been an investigation last week. X had, as usual, declined assignment to the conflict. And with the only person who might get him a spot in the strike team off hunting Mavericks somewhere in Stamen City, Axl had also sat this battle out.

When the reports on the strike came in, Axl was one of the first after the higher-ups to look them over. There wasn’t much else for him to do, and this was about as close as he was going to get to the action for a while. Besides, it was kind of interesting. Covert strategy appealed to him. Jobs meant for small teams or a one-man force. It was the sort of thing he used to literally live on, and he never really left that life behind.

The target was an ancient but well-fortified processing plant – the kind of brilliantly designed place that was built decades ago but never became obsolete. It had a good security system. With the rise in pirate activity, plants like that were under heavy bombardment. The security was to keep pirates out – in theory. Recently, illegal defense measures had been added that, rather than keeping danger out, appeared to protect something inside the facilities that was easily far worse than pirates.

Axl smiled wistfully as he scrolled through the files. He could imagine it now; staking the place out with just a couple of other guys, waiting hours through the dead of night, gauging the patterns of roving security drones and sending quasi-viral signals to cripple the systems before moving in. Hunters worked differently – they were clunky and brutal, since with their numbers they could afford to be – but Axl was sure that they’d overlooked something in this mission. Maybe in a bunch of others.

Apparently, the Hunters had suffered a few casualties and drawn the conflict out longer than they’d anticipated. All because of a particularly tenacious protection program. It wove deep into every aspect of the security and repelled all attempts to shut it down. The Maverick Hunters had been forced to resort to frontal assault. In the end their objective had been reached, but…Axl shook his head. He’d have done this way differently.

That security system intrigued him. Its strength was like a taunt, daring him to unearth its secrets. Axl accepted the unspoken challenge with a fanged grin. He duplicated the data and set it aside in a wholly separate program. The terrain and structural records were opened in a simulation window and the security was connected to it. A few modifications and the defense system was all up and running as if it was again protecting its stronghold.

Now for the fun part.

Axl pushed himself back from the desk and got comfortable. Time to see if he could hack into the simulated security system with only the tech built into his body.

Granted, in the field he’d probably have more gear than this…and then he could always improvise with his surroundings…but it was good to stick to the basics.

It was a crafty program. Not brand-new, but still top of the line with multiple firewalls, blinds, misdirection, traps, and a medium-grade AI that blocked and parried him move for move. It was like the most complicated game of chess ever.

And Axl loved it.

 

* * *

 

 

“What are you doing?”

Axl jerked upright in surprise, realizing that X had entered without him even noticing it. “I’m just working through the new files…trying something out. Sir.” He added that at the last minute. Formal rank was something he was still getting used to.

X overlooked the blunder, his gaze locked onto the monitor with interest. “What are you trying out?”

“Well…I thought there might be an easier way to have done that last mission. See, the main problem was this security firewall. I’m thinking that if I could use this method to take it down, we could get in with no problems and the guys wouldn’t know what hit ‘em!” He realized that his voice was getting animated, and he forced himself to calm down. “It’s just an idea though, sir.”

X nodded slowly. “Carry on. I want to see what you’re proposing.”

“Y…yes sir.” Axl reluctantly sat back down. He thought he was pretty close to getting in, but now his focus was divided. It was kind of weird to have X hanging over him while he tried this out. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to people hogging the monitor – Gungaroo was the absolute WORST when it came to that – but it was different now.

He hadn’t been working his butt off for approval back then.

Axl took a deep breath and forced himself to get back to work. Now that he thought of it, this maze of programming was a lot like his own systems. It kept shifting every time he got a lock on a weak spot.

But it wasn’t a special Reploid like he was. It couldn’t outsmart him and it certainly couldn’t outrun him. All he had to do was get one step ahead of it and then it was all over.

He planted huge amounts of probing code in three spots in the system’s nucleus. The nanosecond it began to attend to those while shutting off a weak point, Axl found his chance. A wrong move here would probably tip the whole place off to his position and open fire on his simulated team, but if he succeeded…he’d succeed in a big way.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Axl took his chance.

Like a fragile plant under a beating sun, the security protocols wilted and gave way under his attack. Small openings at first, and then he could shut everything down. The simulation onscreen displayed a processing plant that was essentially dead in the water. Totally and completely helpless.

Even X’s presence couldn’t dampen Axl’s exultance. He sat back in the seat and crossed his arms with a satisfied smile. “Well, that about does it. Sir.”

There was a long silence as X scrolled through the data. At this point Axl didn’t expect anything – heck, X would probably scoff and turn away if Axl brought him the moon – but when he looked up at his lifelong hero, he was shocked by the light in X’s eyes.

He looked…

…impressed.

“This is really impressive, Axl.” For the first time there was enthusiasm in X’s voice. He looked at Axl with the closest thing to a smile he’d ever seen on that guy’s face. “Where did you learn to do this?”

“Uh…I guess I just picked it up here and there.”

“You’re good at it. Very good.” X saved the data and downloaded a copy to his personal hard drive. “You’re right, too – if we had a hacker who could do this, a lot of needless violence would have been avoided.”

A slow grin spread over Axl’s face even as he was unsure if he could believe his aural processors. “You…really?”

“Yes, really.” He turned, paused at the door, and this time gave him an actual smile. “Keep working on this sort of thing. I want to see everything you know about hacking.”

“Yes sir!” Axl cried happily, snapping a hand up to his head in salute.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

“He has talent for it, and it keeps him away from the front lines.” X sent the data package with Axl’s recent accomplishment in an attachment. “Use him in this position whenever you can.”

“Warming up to him, are you?”

“He shouldn’t be a Hunter…but as a hacker, he can actually do good.” X’s gaze was firm and true again, the way Zero remembered. “Whenever you need a program taken down, I hope you’ll use his talents.”

Zero smiled. “You got it, X.”

It was beginning to feel like everything was coming right again.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Of course, Axl won't be content to remain as a hacker for very long...
> 
> (I'm not a hacker or programmer so some of this 'hacker-speak' might sound cringy to anyone who actually does that stuff. My apologies.)


End file.
